The 23rd Washington State Women's Amateur Championship will be held concurrently with the 7th Washington State Women's Mid-Amateur, 17th Washington State Senior Women's Amateur and 3rd Washington State Super Senior Women's Amateur championships at Sunland Golf & Country Club in Sequim, Wash. on June 21-23.
All four championships will be conducted by the Washington State Golf Association (WSGA). The Women's Amateur and Mid-Amateur championships will be contested over 54 holes of stroke play, while the Senior and Super Senior championships consist of 36 holes of stroke play. Tee times begin Tuesday, June 21 at 7:30 a.m. PDT.
For a complete list of tee times, pairings, daily updates, and to follow along with live scoring for each championship, visit www.thewsga.org.
The Washington State Women's Amateur is the state's premier amateur championship for women, and traditionally draws the region's best players. This year's field includes Marianne Li of Bellevue, Wash., who is a freshman at University of California-Berkeley and was the top-ranked junior golfer in Washington while in high school, qualifying for five USGA national championships and winning the 2014 Pacific Northwest Junior PGA Championship; Bree Wanderscheid of Goldendale, Wash., a two-time 1A high school champion and now a sophomore at Washington State University; Kendall Gray of Federal Way, Wash., who won the 2013 Pacific Northwest Junior Girls' Amateur and now is a sophomore at the University of Idaho; and Kelly Hooper of Spokane, Wash. who won the 2015 Pacific Northwest Junior Girls' Amateur and has committed to attend Montana State University in the fall of 2016 to play on their women's golf team.
The field of the Women's Mid-Amateur championship includes heavyweights such as two-time champion Leslie Folsom (2012, 2013) of Tukwila, Wash., 2014 champion Shawn Farmer of Renton, Wash., 2014 WSGA Senior Women's Player of the Year Denise Kieffer of University Place, Wash., and 2013 Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame inductee Alison Murdoch of Victoria, B.C.
Ginny Burkey of Eugene, Ore. will be attempting to defend her title in the women's Senior Amateur, having won last year when the championship was held at the Cedars at Dungeness. Burkey also won the title in 2011, a year in which she earned WSGA Senior Women's Player of the Year honors. The strong field also includes three-time champion Lisa Smego (2006, 2007, 2013) of Olympia, Wash. (Smego also won the 2010 and 2011 Women's Mid-Amateur); and 2009 and 2012 champion Yasue Alkins of Steilacoom, Wash.
Mary Ryan of Renton, Wash. is back to try to defend her title in the Super Senior Women's Amateur. Others in the field include Karen Madison of East Wenatchee, Wash. who won the 2015 Pacific Northwest Super Senior Women's Amateur and was named the 2015 WSGA Senior Women's Player of the Year; and Carol Dick of Lakewood, Wash., who won this championship in 2014.
Past champions of the Washington State Women's Amateur have gone on to make their mark in the golf community, and include Paige Mackenzie (2002), a member of the University of Washington Athletic Hall of Fame who finished her senior year ranked the No. 1 golfer in the nation by Golfweek, and is a studio analyst on Golf Channel and LPGA Tour player; Kelli Kamimura (2001) now is the head coach of the women's golf team at Washington State University; Jimin Kang (1999), who was the runner-up at the 1999 U.S. Women's Amateur while still in high school, and now a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour; Molly Cooper (1997, 2000), who was medalist at the 2000 U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier, and now is the director of tournament & member programs at the Pacific Northwest Section PGA; Renee Skidmore (2005), who competed on Golf Channel's "Big Break" series; and Erynne Lee (2011), who was selected the WSGA Women's Player of the Year in three consecutive years, made it to the quarterfinals or better of the U.S. Women's Amateur three times, and is now a rising star on the UCLA women's golf team.
Known to be one of the driest courses in Western Washington, Sunland G&CC sits in the north end of the Olympic Peninsula. The original nine opened in 1971, with the second nine opening in 1976, and both nines were designed by Ken Putnam.
